Heart in the Cards
by Homura Bakura
Summary: A series of oneshots involving my favorite pairings from Yu-Gi-Oh DM, GX, and 5D's (and probably Zexal and Arc-V once I get around to watching them). Prompts from otpprompts on Tumblr, most pairings listed inside on the first chapter. T just be safe, mostly for language.
1. Introduction

Hello, and welcome to this super amazing series of random Yu-Gi-Oh shipping oneshots! Basically, what happens here is I post oneshots about my favorite YGO shippings. I don't take requests for this, sorry.

Most of the prompts I use for these oneshots comes from .com unless otherwise noted, so please go have a look at that amazing source of OTP prompts!

Before we begin, let me make a brief (haha) list of the pairings that will probably show up here, just so you can avoid pairings you dislike or look for ones you like. *clears throat*

Peachshipping

Trustshipping

Polarshipping

Nellshipping

Vaseshipping

Softshipping

Mizushipping

Kiddyshipping

Midriffshipping

Roseshipping

Pleashipping

Logicshipping

Destinyshipping

Possessshipping/Eternityshipping (I like to call it Eternityshipping, but that's not official so...)

Tomorrowshipping

Pineshipping

Pairshipping

Angelshipping

Courageshipping (made this one up, it's O'Brien x Maiden of the Aqua)

Faithshipping

Scoopshipping

Distantshipping

And there may (cough will cough) be others as I go along and find new ships and pairings and bromances and whatevers that I like and feel like writing about. Oh, yeah, and there won't be any sex depicted here (it may be hinted that they had it, but I won't write about the act) because I am incredibly grossed out by sex and wouldn't be able to treat such a scene with any decency.

Since this series doesn't have an actual end point in mind (it just updates whenever I feel like it) I'm going to mark it as completed, however, I'll still be posting sporadically to this.

Without further ado, let's get this shipping on the road. :3


	2. Apricot-chan

_(Prompt: __Imagine that Person A of your OTP has a special nickname or term of endearment for Person B. They have never called Person B this name in front of people, as they haven't gone public with their relationship yet, but one night, at a party or event where lots of their friends and peers are present, Person A slips, and calls Person B the special name by accident. Person B blushes and hides their face when they realize that everybody has heard, but Person A grabs Person B by the hand and boldly announces to everybody present that the two of them are together. Everybody present applauds and hollers their congratulation as Person A pulls Person B into a passionate kiss.)_

_(Ship: Peachshipping)_

****. . .****

"You did _not_, Jonouchi."

"I did! I did! I wouldn't lie to ya!"

"Oh come off it, you lunkhead! There's no way!"

"Geez, leggo of me, Mai!"

Yugi hid his laugh behind his hand as the tall blonde woman snagged Jonouchi into a good-natured headlock and proceeded to noogie him.

"Gaaah," Jonouchi said. "Yugi, help!"

Yugi just grinned, sticking his tongue out playfully.

"Payback, Jou-kun, you did that to me plenty back in high school," he said.

"Agh, no, karma's come back to bite me!" Jonouchi said, finally wriggling out of Mai's grasp. "Darn it, Yug, I'd get you back, too, but you're too tall for me to snag ya easily!"

"You've caught on to my plan, have you?"

He paused to reach back towards the table behind him to grab another dinner roll. He was going to fill himself up before dinner, but he didn't really care. He'd probably be too busy talking to people to actually eat much anyway – there were so many people in the room that he hadn't even talked to yet!

They had gotten lucky – Seto had actually agreed to let them use his mansion for the big old reunion after they had gotten rained out at the ark. He claimed that it was just because Mokuba wanted to do it, but the CEO wasn't really fooling anyone. He was certainly not going to be anyone's cuddly teddy bear anytime soon, but he was at least grudgingly admitting that he didn't really mean it when he complained about not really being everyone's friend.

Jonouchi started telling another wild story, this one about wrestling a bear in Canada, at which point Honda called bullshit because Jonouchi hadn't been to Canada, he had only stopped by in America to meet up with Valon before going to Europe for a few weeks. Jonouchi told him to hush and let him finish his story.

"I can't tell, has Jonouchi been drinking some of this stuff, or is he just drunk on the fact that Mai is standing next to him?" Anzu whispered beside Yugi, shaking her wine glass lightly.

Yugi chuckled.

"Definitely Mai. Jonouchi hasn't touched the wine."

Anzu's laugh was soft and musical. He sighed softly as she leaned a bit closer to him, her shoulder brushing against his. He wanted to lean right into her and feel her warmth against him, to put his arm across her shoulders and pulled her close, catch the scent of that fruity kid shampoo she liked to use because it was cheap. But...well...

He grinned as Mai shoved Jonouchi with her elbow. Ishizu wandered over as Honda started talking about the work at the construction company, the new buildings they were putting in and the bets they were taking on what companies would grab the new ones first.

"So, Anzu, hun, what have you been up to?" Mai asked, leaning a bit away from the other conversation. She obviously did not find buildings very interesting.

"Oh! Well I just rented a small place down on Plum Street...yeah, not far from Yugi's game shop – oh, you haven't been there yet? You really have to stop by sometime, it's a great place! Anyway, yeah, I rented a small studio and I'm trying to get a dance class started...no, for now I'm working at Burger World again; not glamorous, but it gets the bills paid, right?"

"Apricot-chan, careful there," Yugi said, grabbing her wine glass before she accidentally spilled it all down her front in her absent gesture.

He almost didn't realize what he had said until Mai's eyes wandered over to him, her perfectly painted lips in a slight O.

"Apricot-chan?"

Yugi flushed a deep, deep red.

"Oh, I, uh, it just –"

"That is the cutest thing I have ever _heard_!" Mai said, grinning widely. "Jou, listen to this, Yugi calls Anzu Apricot-chan! Isn't that adorable?"

"Whaaat? Yugi, you've given Anzu a pet name?" Jonouchi said. "What's that supposed to mean, huh?"

Suddenly the entire group was staring at him with huge grins and Yugi felt the heat running all across his cheeks and down into his neck and he could not get his tongue to work.

"I...well, you see..."

Anzu's hand slipped into his, cool and firm. She smiled.

"Oh, we've been meaning to tell you," she said. "Yugi and I...well..."

She lifted up her free hand and wiggled her fingers, letting the light catch across the ring she wore.

Instantly, the group erupted.

"About stinking time, Yug!"

"Congratulations, Anzu-chan!"

"I'm so happy for you two!"

"Wow, when's the wedding?"

"I was wondering how long it was going to take!"

"_Nice job_, Anzu!"

Yugi's blush receded mostly, but he still rubbed the back of his neck and only mumbled in responses to all the well-wishing and slaps on the back. He glanced sidelong at Anzu.

"That wasn't exactly how I wanted to tell everyone," he said.

"I took initiative," Anzu said, laughing.

She leaned in and kissed him. He closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss, not even caring about appearances anymore because all he wanted was to press into her and taste her chapstick and smell her fruity hair.

He heard Jonouchi and Honda letting out long "ooooooooo's" and the sound of someone – probably Mai – smacking them upside the heads.

He didn't care. It was a good night.

**. . .**

**A/N: well, that's a pretty good start to this series of random oneshots, don't you think? :3 Just to be clear, Yugi's nickname is in the middle of these things because he's using the word in English. Anzu's name is spelled with the kanji for apricot, so he started calling her Apricot, using the English word. :) I think the next oneshot will be Trustshipping, so yeah. Hope you liked it!**


	3. Instructions Not Included

_((Prompt: Imagine your OTP trying to build a playset (swings, slide, house, etc) for their child(ren). Imagine it going horribly wrong.))_

_((Ship: Nellshipping))_

_((Timeframe: about 20-21 years post DM))_

_((Note: this hasn't been addressed in any of my main timeline stories yet, but Noa was found in a cryogenic chamber beneath Kaiba Dome less than half a year after Battle City, and was able to be revived. Later, he met a girl that turned out to be the reincarnation of Amane, now a Greek girl called Arcadia, so that's why I'm calling Amane Arcadia in this oneshot))_

****. . .****

"This is supposed to snap here," Noa said.

"No, no, no, picture has the blue part on this side."

"No, Arcadia, the colors on the box are wrong, see, that part is the one that has the circle hole in the picture, and our pieces have the circle hole wall in yellow."

Arcadia threw her hands up in the air.

"Augh! I give _up_!"

Thick pieces of plastic squares with various shaped holes big enough for a small child to crawl through were scattered across the apartment's living room. Noa was staring at the box labeled "Mini Playset for Ages 2 and up", holding a small orange slide in one hand and trying to figure out exactly how that was supposed to attach to the frame.

"This is ridiculous," Arcadia said, falling onto her back. "Uuuugh!"

"Calm down, Arcadia," Noa said, trying to smother his grin. "It's not that hard. See, I think this snaps on like this..."

He reached for one of the play house walls and tried to fit it together with another one.

"Oops, no...geez, how is this so hard...?"

"I don't know, you're supposed to be the genius around here," Arcadia said, throwing a handful of packing peanuts at him from the box the playset had been shipped in.

He batted them away with a laugh.

"That's hardly fair. You're supposed to be the genius duelist," he said.

"Yeah, but you put together computers for a living, with all their tiny parts and wires and things," Arcadia said. "This is like that, just with bigger pieces! How is that hard for you, may I ask?"

"Oh, shut it," he said, throwing the packing peanuts back at her. "I'll figure it out, just you wait and see!"

"Good, so I don't have to work on it anymore?"

"I didn't say that..."

A loud whining cry went up from the room over. Arcadia leapt up before Noa could move.

"Oh, baby's awake! Guess you're on your own!" she said.

Noa laughed and threw another packing peanut at her as she trotted off to take care of Ami. Then he shook his head.

"Okay, this goes here then...?"

****. . .****

**A/N: A little birthday present for Noa Kaiba, since October 7 is his birthday. :3 I said it would be Trustshipping next, but I guess I lied XD. I don't know what I'll write next for this series. Hm.**


	4. Dreams of Water and Fire

_((Prompt: Imagine Person A of your OTP not being able to get to sleep after a long day at work and Person B cuddling with them to help.))_

_((Pair: Courageshipping. Austin O'Brien/Axel Brodie x Maiden of Aqua))_

_((Timeframe: about a month after the conclusion of GX season 3))_

Sleep was impossible. He had always had trouble with it, but it was worse in the past few weeks. The darkness was too thick, too heavy. It crushed down on him like weights across his chest.

O'Brien's eyes flew open with a start. He had sort of been asleep, but the images that flared across the backs of his eyelids had startled him away. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He shook his head. No sleep tonight, either, then.

He swung himself out of bed and headed for the computer. He should finish his research on that image Judai had sent him of the feather. It had something to do with one of the missing students from the old honor dorm, and O'Brien was certain he was on the verge of epiphany.

But his mind wandered. He was too exhausted. He had spent the morning in classes, and the afternoon working with Mr. Pegasus scouting out card thieves, like usual. Apparently there was a copycat of the old Ghouls organization trying to pop back up and it was all O'Brien could do to locate even one of the members. The last time he had actually slept was during his history lecture this morning. Hardly prime sleeping hours.

He sighed, leaning back in his chair. He rubbed his eyes. The day's events, his research, his homework, all of it seemed to float across his eyelids in a jumbled mess. His Duel Disk lay across the desk beside him. He reached out and lifted it. The familiar heft was comforting. He might be damn good at his job, but it was Dueling that he loved best.

Images from the other dimension flashed across his eyes in a blur – Judai's cold eyes glowing golden down at him, Jim vanishing in a explosion of sparkles, the heat of the Eye of Orichalcum in his palm as he felt his own body dissipating –

His Duel Disk dropped to the floor with a loud clatter. He flinched – even though he knew what the sound was, his mind instantly jumped to the number of weapons that could make a similar sound. It wasn't just the other dimension that was getting to him. It was his entire damn life.

He slumped forward. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't focus on work, he couldn't even pick up his Duel Disk without having a panic attack. What was he going to do with himself?

His cards were scattered across the floor. They must have fallen out of the Duel Disk when he dropped it. He sighed, and got off the chair to pick them up. He glanced down at each card as he put it back into its stack. Their fiery backgrounds glowed up at him, glinting holographically in the light of his computer screen. He smiled slightly. These cards had stuck with him through all of this. He felt a distinct sense of strength emanating from them. At the very least, the cards were something he could hang on to, something he could trust.

He reached for the last card, flipping it over to place it back into the pile. He hesitated halfway in the motion. This wasn't his card. When had he gotten this...? It didn't fit his deck at all.

_Maiden of Aqua,_ it read. _The field is treated as "Umi" as long as this card remains face up on the field._

Not only did it not fit into his deck at all, it was like a polar opposite of it. To have the field treated as Umi, an ocean, along with his fire deck? Not exactly a match made in heaven. Where had he even gotten this?

He stood up and turned the card towards the light. He sucked in a breath as the artwork became apparent.

Oh.

It was her.

A slender young woman, her powder blue hair drawn back in a bun from her light-skinned, smiling face. She held a trident in both hands, and white ribbons cascaded around her shoulders like hints of sea foam. He sat down slowly in his chair, staring at the card.

"_I was told that you might be the one who can defeat the Supreme King."_

"_Please, can you help us?"_

"_Don't worry, I can help! I call on the power of the sea, aid us!"_

"_I know you can defeat the Supreme King. If anyone can do it, it's you. Because you are strong, and braver than you think, and I believe in your courage."_

He snorted softly.

"Courage..." he said. "It really wasn't...courage...that got me on my feet again..."

He set the card down on the desk. His eyes didn't come off of it.

Come to think of it...

He had never seen her again after fighting and destroying the Supreme King in Judai. For all she knew...he had died. He had died in a kamikaze mission to take out the Supreme King. He...he wasn't even sure he had even gotten her name. Had he thanked her, for believing in him? For encouraging him to get back on his feet again?

For bringing back his courage?

"Maiden of Aqua," he muttered. "...thank you."

He stared at the card for another long moment. Then he sighed. He got up and got back into bed. There was nothing else he could do. He had to try and sleep.

As he closed his eyes, he thought he saw the card glitter.

A quiet footstep caught his attention, the creaking of the bed as something sat down on it. He didn't flinch, or jump into attack mode as he normally would. There was a calm presence in the room that soothed him.

A soft, gentle hand touched his arm – was he dreaming, maybe? Perhaps that was why he wasn't moving, wasn't afraid.

"O'Brien-san," her voice echoed to him through the darkness. "I finally found you..."

He felt some small and wet drop onto his shoulder. He still didn't move – it must be a dream. Otherwise he wanted to open his eyes, to sit up and see if she was there.

"I was so afraid," she whispered. "I heard – I heard that you had died with the King, and...and I never even got to tell you...thank you..."

The soft paralysis seemed to fade, and O'Brien opened his eyes. Dream or not, everything was in perfect clarity. He stirred. Her hand jumped off his shoulder in surprise as he sat up.

There she was, sitting on the foot of his bed, her deep blue eyes almost black in the darkness, her face glowing in the light of his computer screen.

"Oh, I...I thought you were asleep..."

"I thought I was too," he said.

They looked down. For a moment, neither spoke.

"O'Brien-san..." she whispered.

"I...I don't think I ever learned your name," he said.

They both looked up, eyes meeting each other. She smiled hesitantly.

"I'm called the Maiden of Aqua, but my name...it's Manami."

"Manami," O'Brien said. "I...I never got a chance. To thank you. I never would have – I wouldn't have found the strength to fight him if you hadn't...believed..."

"I was losing hope in everything before I met you," Manami said. "I thought there would be no end to the darkness. No one was strong enough to stand up to him. But you...you were scared, you knew what he was capable of, and yet you couldn't seem to leave. You couldn't seem to put down your weapon and give up. You fought, when I was in trouble, you came and fought with me, and I knew – I knew you were the hero I was looking for."

"I'm not a hero," O'Brien said. "I've never been one. I'm just...the guy who does other people's jobs."

She reached out tentatively, and then withdrew her hand. She bit her lip. And then she reached out again and put her hand on top of his.

"There was no one else that told you what to do," she said. "You say you just do other people's jobs when they ask – but there was no one to tell you that you had to fight the King. And you came to the conclusion yourself. You went...and you fought...because you decided to, even though you were afraid."

She smiled, her eyes a little bit shiny with tears.

"O'Brien-san, if that's not a hero, what is?"

Her hand was so, so soft. He turned his own hand over so that his fingers could twine around hers.

"Manami," he said.

"O'Brien," she whispered.

They stared at each other for a long moment. He felt everything in him starting to relax, to untwist and smooth out.

"How long are you able to stay in this world?" he asked softly.

She smiled.

"As long as you have my card," she said.

He reached out to her hesitantly. Her free hand came up to take his and press it against her cheek.

"And as long as you want me to stay."


	5. You Ridiculous Bastard

_((Prompt: Person A is sick, so Person B tries to cheer them up by doing things they wouldn't be caught doing in front of other people, such as speaking like a pirate and dancing a funny dance._ _.))_

_((Pair: Midriffshipping))_

_((Timeframe: about a year after the series end))_

**. . .**

Amelda could not remember the last time he had been so damn sick. His head felt like it was going to explode and he couldn't remember a time when he had actually been able to breathe through his nose. He lay on his bed with his face in the pillow and three blankets piled on top of him. He felt like he was going to die from burning up but the last time he had taken off even a single blanket it was like entering the Arctic.

The door creaked open, but he didn't look up.

"Hey, Amelda. Raphael told me to bring you some soup," Valon said, his voice sounding muffled through Amelda's blankets.

"Mmmmfff."

"You gotta eat, ya know. Otherwise you're just gonna get worse."

"Screw off, Valon."

"Well, _someone's_ a right porcupine today. Fine then, you overgrown baby, I'll just take this soup away and you can waste away to death. Sound like fun?"

Amelda shifted enough in bed to get his hand out from under the covers so that he could brandish a middle finger in Valon's direction.

"Same to you, big baby," Valon said. "Geez, it's like you'd never been sick before..."

The muffled sound of his vanishing footsteps was like music to Amelda's ears. The last thing he needed right now was to deal with that buffoon. Raphael was one thing, but Valon was a whole other story. He burrowed further into his blankets. Maybe he would wake up and this horrible spell of sickness would just be a dream.

There was a very soft tap on the door. Amelda swore quietly.

"I didn't mean to wake you," Raphael's soft, deep voice said. "But a friend of yours is here. He heard you were sick."

Friend? What friend?

"Yo, Amelda. I heard you were trying to suffocate the sickness out of yourself."

That voice...Marik?

Amelda sneaked a peek out over the covers. Sure enough, there was Marik, that half-grin of his plastered on his deep bronzed face, platinum blond hair falling over his shoulders and sticking up a little towards the top – he must have been wearing his helmet. He was definitely still in his motorcycle jacket and it looked as grease-stained as ever.

"Ugh," Amelda said. "What are you doing here?"

Marik grinned. Raphael tried to suppress it, but he had a small smile too. He bowed out quietly and left the two alone.

"I'm here to cheer you up, obviously. Here."

Marik walked into the room and placed a fruit basket on Amelda's nightstand.

"What's that for?"

"Apparently, friends do this in Japan when they visit their sick friends. It's supposed to help you feel better."

"All the damn fruit in the world isn't going to erase this for a while."

"Well not instantly, of course!" Marik said, laughing. "But come on, oranges, at least. High in vitamin C – it can at least reduce the time you have to spend feeling sick."

"I don't think I can keep anything down," Amelda said, grimacing.

"No worries, that's not what I really brought it for. Watch _this_."

He flipped two oranges and an apple from the basket and flicked them into the air.

"Are you...juggling?"

"Yeah! I've been practicing recently – not bad, huh?"

The three fruit rotated in the air as Marik's hands moved dextrously back and forth. It was actually a bit mesmerizing, the blur of orange and red in the air.

But it only last for about twenty seconds before Marik lost the rhythm and the apple conked him on the head. Marik swore with pain. The oranges fell to the ground too and he rubbed his head furiously.

Amelda let out a soft snort, unable to restrain the laughter.

Marik's eyes glinted instantly.

"Ah-ha," he said.

"What?" Amelda said.

Marik grinned.

"You laughed. I got you to laugh. You forgot you were sick for a minute, didn't you?"

"I did not. I'm going to forget until I can breathe through my nose."

"Don't deny it! That was a laugh!"

"It was just me sniffling," Amelda said defiantly.

"Hmph," Marik said. "Well, if you're so determined to stay miserable, then fine, then."

He bent down to pick up the fallen fruit and turned away to put them back into the basket. Amelda felt a little disappointed. He actually didn't want Marik to leave yet. Dammit, why had he been so annoying? Just because he was sick didn't give him the right to act like a prissy kid to Marik, who was only trying to help.

"Wait, Marik, I –"

"Yes?"

Amelda stopped midsentence, his mouth hanging open, because Marik had just turned around to face him and he had stuffed the oranges under his shirt so it looked like he had very strange looking breasts.

A brief moment of stunned silence hung across the room.

And then Amelda snorted. He clapped his hand over his mouth but he could stop the laughter from leaking out.

"Oh my – what the actual _hell_, Marik?" he said in between wrenching, rocking laughs. "You – _ridiculous bastard_ –"

It actually kind of hurt, rattling his head and making it a little harder to breathe, but he couldn't help it. The laughs kept rolling out of him, and Marik was laughing too, so loud and raucous that it was a wonder the other two men in the house didn't come by to see what was going on. Every time the laughter started to die a bit, Marik wiggled the oranges under his shirt and they were off on another round of rolling laughter.

Finally, it was just too hard to breathe, and both of them had to stop. They still giggled a bit like children in between their wheezing breaths.

"You...are...ridiculous," Amelda said.

"Buuuut, I made you laugh," Marik said, grinning. "I win, basically."

"Oh, was this a game or something?"

"Yup."

Amelda chuckled a bit more, shaking his head.

"Fine. Fine, okay, you win."

"Good!" Marik said. "Now get your ass out of bed and eat some of this soup that Raphael made for you. It's really good."

"Have you been eating some of it?"

"Maybe just a little bit."

"Thief."

"Oy, oy, calm it down with the insults there, buddy. Unless you want to back up your accusations with a round of Street Fighter."

"Fine, you're on."

"After you eat your soup."

"You meant the one that you've been eating from?"

"Oh come on, it's not like you haven't shared my germs in more _direct_ ways before..."

"Oh, shut it and give me the bowl of soup."

**. . .**

**A/N: This is the first time I've ever written Midriffshipping. I'm quite pleased with it; they have a much better dynamic than I had expected. :3**


End file.
